Republicans block repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’

Ever-present Republican homophobia triumphed in the United States Senate Tuesday as the party of the elephant successfully blocked an Obama-sponsored effort to lift the ban on gays serving openly in the military.

In a mostly partisan vote, the Senate fell short of the 60 votes needed to advance a major defense policy bill that included repeal of the 17-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that allows gays to serve in the military as long as they don’t reveal their sexual orientation.

Gay advocates blame the measure’s failure on both President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, saying neither did enough to to push the repeal.

“The whole thing is a political train wreck,” says Richard Socarides, who served as a White House adviser on gay rights during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

With Republicans poised to make major gains in Congress in the upcoming midterm elections, the vote Tuesday may have been Obama’s best shot at repealing the law atlhough Reid says it may come up again in a lame duck session after the elections and before the new Congress is seated.

Still, the failure is seen as another failure of the Obama administration.

Democrats included the repeal provision in a $726 billion defense policy bill, which authorizes a pay raise for the troops among other popular programs. In a deal brokered with the White House, the measure would have overturned the 1993 law banning openly gay service only after a Pentagon review and certification from the president that lifting the ban wouldn’t hurt troop morale.

But with little time left for debate before the November ballot, the bill languished on the Senate calendar until gay rights groups, backed by pop star Lady Gaga, began an aggressive push to turn it into an election issue.

Earlier this month a federal judge in Los Angeles declared the ban an unconstitutional violation of the due process and free speech rights of gays and lesbians. The decision was the third federal court ruling since July to assert that statutory limits on the rights of gays and lesbians were unconstitutional.

Reid agreed to force a vote on the bill this week and limit debate, despite Republican objections. A Nevada Democrat in a tight race of his own this fall, he also pledged to use the defense bill as a vehicle for an immigration proposal that would enable young people to qualify for U.S. citizenship if they joined the military.

Republicans alleged that Reid was using the defense bill to score political points with the Democratic base.

“This is not a serious exercise. It’s a show,” said Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Democrats countered that the bill merely reflects public opinion. Recent polls suggest that a majority of Americans think the ban on gays in the military should be overturned.

But at least for now, the question of how and when to change the policy returns to the Pentagon, which had set a December deadline to complete a study of the effects of lifting the ban. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said that he supports Obama’s goal of repeal, but Gates made it clear he thought the process should move gradually.

It is not clear how quickly the Pentagon might make its own recommendations. Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell declined to comment Tuesday on what he called “an internal procedural matter for the Senate.”

Initially, advocates had thought that Democrats might win the 60 votes needed to overcome GOP objections and advance the bill. Sen. Susan Collins, a moderate Maine Republican, was seen as a crucial vote because she supports overturning the ban.

But Collins ultimately sided with her GOP colleagues in arguing that the bill shouldn’t advance because Republicans weren’t given sufficient chance to offer amendments to the wide-ranging policy bill.

Democrats also failed to keep all of their party members in line. Democratic Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both of Arkansas, voted with Republicans to scuttle the bill. The vote was 56-43, four short of the 60 required to advance under Senate rules.

Lincoln said she objected to the limits on debate and wanted a chance to offer amendments that would benefit her state. In a statement, Pryor said the bill deserved more serious debate than was being allowed.

“There needs to be a genuine and honest effort to craft a defense bill that senators from both parties can support, because supporting our troops should not ever be a partisan issue,” he said.

When it became clear that Democrats would lose, Reid cast his own vote in opposition as a procedural tactic. Under Senate rules, doing so enabled him to revive the bill.

Conservative groups hailed the vote as a victory for the troops. “At least for now they will not be used to advance a radical social agenda,” said Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council.

An estimated 13,000 people have been discharged under the law since its inception in 1993. Although most dismissals have resulted from gay service members outing themselves, gay rights’ groups say it has been used by vindictive co-workers to drum out troops who never made their sexuality an issue.

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“Gay advocates blame the measure’s failure on both President Barack Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, saying neither did enough to to push the repeal.”

Now that may be one of the stupidest things to come down the road in a long time. The President is on record as in favor of doing away with this policy, which is dramatically and almost uniformly (pun intended) opposed by the military leadership. Obama has asked the courts to allow time to change the policy in an orderly fashion, and it appears that he is going to be rebuffed.

And the Republicans are again deliriously happy. They know that the courts will eventually rule against don-t ask-don’t tell, so down the road they will have yet another opportunity to pule and micturate about how the activist courts are ruining the United States. What a load of bollocks.

Personally I believe that Reid et al. should tell the Republicans, “Go ahead and filibuster. It is an election year and if you hold up the defense appropriations bill it’s fine with us.” The public needs to see first hand just how recalcitrant is the party of no.

There are a whole bunch of lawsuits challenging he constitutionality of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” now working their way through the federal courts, some of which are already at the federal appeals court stage.

One lawsuit in particular…that on behalf of a former US Air Force nurse (Maj. Margaret Witt) …has a very good chance of being upheld.

All of which means that it’s now only a matter of time before such nonsense is ultimately ruled unconstitutional. That action will then render what the Senate did (or, rather didn’t do) quite moot.

Indeed, form the Senator’s standpoint, it is FAR better NOT to “rock the boat” and stir up the rabid homophobes in an election year over a blatantly systemically discriminatory issue that is ALREADY destined to eventually be struck down as unconstitutional via the federal courts.